The project is a renovation of the space formerly occupied by JoJo Restaurant on the Southern end of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. The renovation is a light-touch: retaining the centrally located kitchen, but remaking its three sided enclosure to accommodate a stool bar, host stand and an accessible seating area. We purposefully minimized the enclosure of the kitchen, keeping a visual continuity form the front door to the back dining room.

The design of the space remains minimal to allow the experience of the food to come to the fore. Taking cues from James Shyabout’s mix of molecular gastronomy and rustic cooking techniques, we paired back the existing space to a pure white container with a simple matte gray hexagonal tile floor. To this crisp modern container, we added chunky white oak bar and table elements to bring a matter-of-fact materiality to the design. Feature lighting is a series of projections which give a luminous quality to the space itself, dissolving the fixture and keeping only the light.